Two Manikins
Jane Blue, Sacramento
BEWARE OF DOGS FACING WEST
—Viola Weinberg
And heads hanging on walls
Horse skulls laid in moat
Beware the crystal breath caught
By paintings of the dead
And photographs that steal the soul
Beware the bloodless root of evil
And the tight, cold wire of false friends
On the high plain, beware of the steppes
That lead to the savanna, beware the
Sleepy eyes of Cesar and the charming
Roar of crowds who come to
Hail and bury deep in the Roman city
Beware of lies told by the village king
Beware of truths told in a woman’s sleep
Be careful, please, to avoid the trap
Step over the pit, walk the long way around
Take note of shadows and faces in clouds
Take care in the forum, cover your heart and run
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Thanks, Jane and Viola! Watch for more of Jane Blue and Viola Weinberg in Rattlesnake Review #18, due out in mid-June. Have you sent in your poems/photos/art/what-have-you yet? 3-5 poems, etc.: No bio or cover needed, no simul-subs or previously-pubs; send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Deadline is tomorrow, May 15!
As many of you know, Viola was Sacramento's first Poet Laureate, a position she shared with Dennis Schmitz. An interview of her will appear in Conversations, Volume 3 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, which will appear June 11. Yes, that's right, June 11, not May 14 (today) as planned; it has been postponed. The best-laid plans... Jane was interviewed in Volume One.
Speaking of May 15 deadlines, here are two more:
•••Deadline is May 15 for Artists Embassy International’s Fifteenth Annual Dancing Poetry Contest. All DPF prize winners will receive a prize certificate suitable for framing, a ticket to the Dancing Poetry Festival ’08, and be invited to read their prize winning poem at the 2008 Dancing Poetry Festival, September 27, 2008, Noon-4 PM in the Florence Gould Theater in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco. Three Grand Prizes will receive $100 each, plus their poems will be danced and videotaped for the winners. Each Grand Prize Winner will be invited onstage for photo ops with the dancers and a bow in the lime light. In addition, five First Prizes will receive $50 each; ten Second Prizes will receive $25 each, and 25 Third Prizes will receive $10 each (over $1000 in prizes!). For any additional info, including submission guidelines, please visit www.dancingpoetry.com.
•••The California Arts Council is accepting nominations for California Poet Laureate, the officially recognized poet for the state of California, as selected by the Governor. Nominations are due by May 15, so take a look at the application now! Self-nominations are accepted. http://www.cac.ca.gov/artsnews/whatsnewdetail.php?id=39
Calendar addition for this week:
•••Thursday (5/15), 7:30 PM: The Nevada County Poetry Series continues its tenth year of celebrating poetry by presenting poets Quinton Duval and Jeff Knorr. As educators, poets and promoters of the written word, Duval and Knorr use their skills to explore the human and natural condition—they celebrate the joys and tragedies found there in. Rattlechapper and Nevada County Series co-host Bill Gainer says, "The world and all that is in it is the page they work from—extraordinary talents both." Quinton Duval has published three books of poems: Guerrilla Letters (1976), Dinner Music (1984), and Joe's Rain (2005), and a new collection of poems, Among Summer Pines, is being released from Rattlesnake Press on May 14. His poems, reviews and translations have appeared in many literary magazines including: Carolina Quarterly, Ohio Review, Gettysburg Review, Quarterly West, Cut Bank, Santa Clara Review, and California Quarterly. He is the editor and publisher of Red Wing Press and teaches English and Creative Writing at Solano Community College in Fairfield, California. He lives in West Sacramento with his wife, Nancy. Sample Duval at:
http://greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com/2005/09/quinton-duvaljoes-rain.html .
Jeff Knorr is the author of the three books of poetry, The Third Body, Keeper and Standing Up to the Day. His other works include the co-authored Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction; the anthology, A Writer's Country; and The River Sings: An Introduction to Poetry. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Knorr currently directs the River City Writer's Series at Sacramento City College and serves on the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission's Poet Laureate committee. He is Professor of literature and creative writing at Sacramento City College. Visit Jeff at: www.scc.losrios.edu/~knorrj .
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.
Oh—and did we mention...
that Quinton Duval is also reading TONIGHT at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM, to release his new rattlechap, Among Summer Pines? He will be joined by Stephani Schaefer of Los Molinos, with her new littlesnake broadside, Before Naming. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; brings your own poems or somebody else's.
But as we said earlier, the release of Volume 3 of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, has been postponed a month, to June 11.
Yesterday's Seed of the Week:
Medusa mispoke in her earliest edition yesterday, calling the Seed of the Week a HandyStuff Quickie. "Eek, eek," wrote Taylor Graham almost immediately; "Where's the Seed??? It's Tuesday!" Realizing her error, the wall-eyed Medusa quickly changed HStf to SOW; some of you slug-a-beds may not have even noticed. Anyway, TGraham then sent in this response to Tom Goff's challenge (which you can see on yesterday's post), saying "How about this? (though I really hate to brutalize Hopkins!)" Thanks to both TG's for this dandy bit of chicanery!
THE WINDHOVER, SUMMARIZED
What bright sparks from heaven’s hammer!
Can’t hold a hawk with English grammar.
___________________
This week's HandyStuff Quickie (yes, this is the real one; it's Wednesday, right?):
Do you know Laverne and Carol Frith's Practical Poetry: A Guide for Poets? This is a highly portable little synopsis of poetic history, elements of craft, and practical considerations in succinct style and format, a handy guide either for beginner's or those of us who are more, as we say, "well-seasoned". It has been used for many years by college campuses and individuals across the country. Practical Poetry is available from Frith Press, P.O. Box 161236, Sacramento, CA 95816-1236. (Click on the link to the right of this column for further info.)
__________________
A FAMILY OF WOMEN IN LOVE'S KITCHEN
—Viola Weinberg
1. The Maven
Once while dining at the club
She went crazy, she stood and tore her
Tailored linen blouse to shreds
The place was speechless
For a full minute the buttons flew
No silver stirred, no glass was raised
At other tables, other women
Sat with their ankles crossed
In dresses of georgette and chiffon
They looked dimly into their plates
It was Sunday, Family Day at the club
But at our table, her big breasts
Were falling out of their white cups
And the caw that uttered from her throat
Bounced from the buffet table to the pool
Just as suddenly, she swept through
The room like a stately yacht—
Her flapping napkin flown low across the bow
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
There's something about a closet that makes a skeleton restless.
—Wilson Mizner
—Medusa